Landmark sex exploitation study finds surprising number of female abusers

Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun, May 28, 2008

Canada's largest study into the sexual exploitation of street kids and 
runaways has shattered the myths and stereotypes about who the abusers 
are, the most surprising finding being that many are women seeking sex 
with young males.

"I must admit it wasn't something we were expecting," said Elizabeth 
Saewyc, associate professor of nursing at the University of B.C. and 
principal investigator for the study, conducted by Vancouver's McCreary 
Centre Society.

"Some youth in each gender were exploited by women, with more than three 
out of four sexually exploited males reporting exchanging sex for money 
or goods with a female," she said.

The results were drawn from interviews with 1,845 youth -- some as young 
as 12 -- in surveys taken across the province between 2000 and 2006.

The stereotypical model of the child being abused -- a teenage girl 
being sexually abused by a man -- is wrong, Saewyc said.

Sexual exploitation is defined as youth under the age of 19 trading 
sexual activities for resources such as money, drugs, gifts, food, 
services, shelter, transportation or anything similar.

This can include commercial sex work in brothels, escort services, 
pornography and Internet sex.

It also includes what's called "survival sex," where a child provides 
sex in exchange for a place to sleep, a meal or a ride.

The report found one in three children living on the street have been 
sexually abused, although many didn't seem aware that they had been 
exploited, Saewyc said.

"It's a shocking number. The law is clear any adult who has sex with 
children for any form of consideration is exploiting them and it's 
illegal," she said.

The study found 94 per cent of females reported they had been sexually 
exploited by men.

But the study found that young males were being preyed upon by sexual 
predators of both sexes, yet the social systems in place to deter and 
prevent sexual predation were only designed to help females and the 
criminal justice system wasn't concerned with what was happening to 
young men.

"Women seeking young men and boys offer transportation or other things 
and some go to nightclubs and bars where they can pick up underage 
youth. And a certain percentage have been picked up by couples," she said.

Saewyc said it was indicative of the prevailing myths about sexual abuse 
that the rehabilitation program for persons arrested by police for 
attempting to buy sexual favours on the street was called "John School."

"I think it's time we had a Jane School. There should be an equal 
opportunity school for women predators," she said.

"Part of the challenge is that young males are not seen as being 
exploited because they are not coming to the attention of the police and 
the police aren't out there picking up the perpetrators. The system is 
set up to handle the sexual exploitation of young women, not young men," 
she said.

Community research associate Jayson Anderson said most of the programs 
to deal with sexual exploitation were designed by women for female victims.

"There's really nothing out there for males, so we need programs for 
young boys," he said.

The study showed that the following youth were most likely to suffer 
from sexual predation:

Saewyc said the research shows important changes need to be made to the 
way society deals with street children.

"If you ask them what they need, they will tell you: safe shelter, 
access to education and job training, and medical and dental health 
services," she said.

"But many youth who have drug problems can't find safe shelter because 
the shelters won't allow them in unless they are drug free, which seems 
to make some sense.

"But I think it's time for the shelters to lower the threshold and let 
them in, because a 14-year-old shouldn't be forced to submit to sexual 
abuse just to find shelter and survive," said Saewyc.